Nothing Good
by FabianH
Summary: "Finn said the vampire venom corrupts people's minds. Maybe he had it wrong, maybe it just brings their hatred up front and gives them the will to act on it. I don't know. What I do know is that I don't want to be a vampire. I don't want to hurt people, I want to save them."
1. Chapter 1

**_Okay so first things first: This sucks. I mean it, this was written 20 pages in about 20 minutes. There's virtually no story structure at all, and it jumps all over the place. Everyone is seriously out of character, and only one with reason. _**

**_This is a daydream written out because I actually kind of liked the idea. So it's all pleasure and no sense. I'm putting it on this profile simply because I never intended to post it because it sucks that much but I kind of changed my mind. _**

**_Rated for blood and violence. You've been warning: Very OOC.  
><em>**

* * *

><p>Two groups of skimmers crashed into each other, blades swinging, battle cries shouted and the cries of those already wounded echoing across the battlefield.<p>

It was Storm Hawks versus Cyclonians.

How they'd been found the teen squadron would never know. One minute they'd been relaxing on the _Condor_'s flight deck the next racing to their skimmers as the ship's alarms sounded.

The Cyclonian battle airships had literally appeared from nowhere, rising out of the clouds to the left of the legendary _Condor_.

Stork faced the three giant ships alone in the _Condor_ as the others took their skimmers to fight the Talons already on their sky rides.

Aerrow was battling, not the Dark Ace who was surprisingly absent from this attack, but the twenty-odd Talons who weren't fighting his teammates.

He sliced another of their skimmers in half with an exhilarated laugh. He high-fived his copilot, turned back to the controls and pulled up, climbing swiftly above the second layer of clouds that covered their world.

The Talons looked around in bewilderment; they'd been too busy staring after their defeated comrade to see him fly into the cloudbank.

With out making more than a muted thud, Aerrow dropped onto another of the Talon's rides and jabbed one of his energy blades into the engine. Smiling at the Talon he leapt onto another skimmer and did the same.

The first Talon cried out, warning his fellows of Aerrow's plan. They scattered, Aerrow left to dangle perilously on the wing of yet another Cyclonian skimmer. The Talon whose ride he was on stood up to fight, swaying as the turbulence rocked the unmanned airship.

Aerrow, who was perfectly comfortable and used to battling this way, just climbed up, smiled at him and attacked with his twin blades.

The Talon blocked his attack, and lunged with his staff, aiming at Aerrow's right shoulder. Aerrow dodged and struck again but before he could hit the Talon another skimmer crashed into theirs, knocking them both off balance. Aerrow's ruined attack hit the skimmer's engine, piercing through the metal. And with a horrible whine the engine cut out and the ride began a steep, dangerous dive into the Wastelands.

Radarr, seeing this, flew Aerrow's skimmer over to falling sky ride hoping that his Sky Knight would jump to safety. The Cyclonian bailed onto one of his comrade's skimmers and they turned around to fire at Radarr. Unable to help his friend, whose glider seemed to have been damaged at some point in the battle and would not open, Radarr was forced higher and higher as more Cyclonians flew between the Storm Hawks and their falling leader.

0o0o

Aerrow watched as his friends were forced away from him by the Cyclonians. It was an odd sensation to say the least, feeling the wind in your face and seeing the ground rise up to meet you and being unable to control your decent. He'd never felt fear in the air or when he was falling and he did not feel it now. Instead it was more of a pang of loneliness as he plummeted farther away from the only family he had.

0o0o

"Aerrow!" Piper shouted desperately as she watched her leader and friend disappear into the clouds. Through her panic and fear she noticed that Aerrow _still_ didn't look afraid. Did he ever get scared? He was standing tall on the wing of the destroyed ride, staring, it seemed, back into her eyes.

_We'll find you. You won't get hurt and we'll find you, Aerrow_!

She turned back to the Talons in front of her, letting all of her emotions fuel her strength for the sooner they defeated the Talons the sooner they could look for Aerrow. She let out a blast of energy from her staff, wiping out ten Talons at once.

0o0o

He hit the ground hard, the force knocking him unconscious. The broken sky ride landed a few feet away, the flying debris barely missing him. He was spread-eagled on the edge of a barren, dusty little ledge along the underside of Atmosia.

Few things lived on there, mostly insects and plants, except for in the cave. The cave was centered in the middle of the ledge, looking east toward where the Sky Knight had fallen. Two eyes peered out of the darkness, studying the boy whom luck had favoured to land on this tiny stretch of ground. But then again, as a pale hand reached across the twilight shadows to grasp the boy's arm, maybe he wasn't so lucky.

0o0o

"We have to go look for him! Why are you all just standing there? Let's go!"

"Piper, it's getting dark out, we'd never find him."

"We can't leave him!"

"Junko's right, we need to store the fuel we have to go check in the morning, when it's light! We have to fix the _Condor_ now, before we lose her. Aerrow can last the night, the ship can't."

Screeching in frustration as she was forced to accept what the guys were saying, Piper turned and left the bridge, heading toward the hanger bay; anything to keep her busy so she couldn't think about abandoning her Sky Knight.

Radarr followed her silently until they reached her heli-scooter. He scampered up the ride and onto Piper's shoulder, where he usually sat on Aerrow's. He whined at her.

"I know. I'm sorry…it's just…we're just leaving him there! We're not helping Aerrow any!"

He whined again, shaking his head.

"I know! It's dark and we can barely fly, but it doesn't feel right leaving him."


	2. Chapter 2

Moans and screams of frustration and agony drifted from the centre of the cavern. The man got up, walking over to the table wrapped almost completely in darkness.

"I know, my son," he said, running his pale, bony fingers along the rusted chains attached to the table, "but it doesn't last forever. Soon you'll be free and I promise you will feel much better."

The moans and shouts of the prisoner continued, ignoring the coos of the old man. He smiled as he watched his captive struggle.

0o0o

Piper stayed up all night fixing the ship. She didn't even try to go to sleep, she knew she couldn't. She wandered around the _Condor _tinkering, perfecting already perfect rooms, sweeping, washing windows, anything. Reading didn't help; she found out she needed to do something physical.

Eyes drooping, yawning constantly, she woke everyone up as soon as the first light appeared above the clouds. No one questioned her about how she looked; they didn't even stop to eat.

The Storm Hawks all walked unsteadily to their rides and flew out of the hanger, Stork following them in the _Condor_ despite the 'horrible consequences' of flying into the Wastelands.

They descended slowly into one of the most dangerous places on Atmos; each had a pair of Stork's X-ray specs, scanning the ground in a grid-like pattern around the area where they'd last seen Aerrow.

Stork landed the _Condor_ on a large, lava free rock rising slightly above the others, and flew out on his Stork-mobile to join the others.

They searched for hours without break, their hope draining with Piper's energy. When she passed out from exhaustion, falling off her ride and landing on the wing of Junko's skimmer, they called a halt.

Junko lay Piper down on the bed in her room while everyone else headed off to the kitchen to satiate their hunger and to pass the time until Piper woke up again.

0o0o

"Be free my son" the old man whispered, unlocking the chains that bound the boy.

He sat up slowly, taking in his surroundings for the first time. He didn't speak, but stared instead at his hands before looking to the old man for an explanation.

0o0o

Piper sat up slowly, looking around her room and wondering how she'd gotten there. The last thing she remembered was-"Aerrow!"

Jumping out of bed she ran around the ship, looking for the boys; she found two of them in the kitchen but Junko and Radarr were nowhere to be found.

"Guys! What are you doing here? Did you find Aerrow?"

"No, but-"

"Then why are you in here? We should be out there looking for him!"

"Junko and Radarr are searching now! But you needed sleep and we didn't think it'd be a good idea to leave you alone in here, at least while we're in the Wastelands" Finn explained.

"Oh…thanks…but we can all go now!"

There was the sound of footsteps in the hall and Junko walked into room, Radarr following close behind.

"Well, we were working in shifts, and Junko and Radarr have been out for the better part of four hours…You and I'll go, 'kay Piper?"

"Sure Finn. What about you Stork?"

"Umm…I still need to fix the ship from earlier when we were attacked by lava serpents. I don't know how you slept through that."

"We were-? Never mind, we're wasting time! C'mon Finn!"

They started off down the hall, Piper dragging Finn by the arm.

As they neared the end of the hall and the start of the hanger they heard a noise that didn't belong to the current setting; the sound of air whooshing through fabric.

Aerrow landed softly, the impact still making a hollow clank sound, and the wings of his fixed glider automatically folded out of sight.

"Aerrow!" Piper cried in relief.

"Dude, where've you been? We were looking-"

He strode right past them, angling his thin body between them while making sure not to come into contact with either of them, without saying a word.

"Aerrow?" Piper called.

He didn't stop until he got to the door of his room down the hall where he turned to glare at them before opening the door and stalking in.

"He doesn't look too happy…" Finn said, stating the obvious.

"Finn, why don't you go tell the others that Aerrow's back? I'm gonna go see what's wrong."

0o0o

He closed the door in relief, enjoying the dark emptiness of his room.

Well, he thought, he'd gotten out of the cave and back to the _Condor_…now to find out how to fix his _other_ problem.

There was knock on his door as he felt the _Condor_ lift off, startling him so that he froze, automatically tensing.

"Aerrow?"

_It's Piper!_

"Aerrow, what's wrong?"

_What's wrong? Everything! Everything's wrong Piper and for once you can't help me. You could always help me and I could always help you, but not any more…_

"Aerrow please! You can tell me anything. What's the matter?"

_What's the matter? I can tell you anything? Okay then. _

_Piper, when I fell into the Wastelands during that last battle, I didn't actually fall into the Wastelands. I fell onto the doorstep of this old guy. _

_Well, it wasn't really his doorstep; I fell in front of the cave where he lives._

_But this is where it gets really exciting. _

_You see, he's not really an old guy. Okay, well he is but he's really a vampire. _

_And guess what? Now I'm a vampire too. And I don't want to hurt you so I won't tell you and I won't come out._

"What ever it is Aerrow it can't be that bad-"

_Hah!_

"-and we can help!"

_No, I don't think you can._

"Aerrow, I'm coming in there and you are going to let me help you!"

_What? The door! I locked-!_

He stayed frozen as he was as the door slid up, the light from the hall silhouetting Piper and burning his eyes. Not knowing what else to do he ran to the bed and crushed a pillow across his face.

"Aerrow, why is so dark in here?" She tried the light switch, it didn't work.

"Piper, please get out of my room. I think I really need to be alone right now!"

"Why's your voice so muffled?" She asked, walking over the far wall. She flipped up the blinds, sunlight streaming into the room.

"Turn the light off! I have a migraine so I put a pillow over my head!"

"Oops!" she let the blinds fall back, "sorry."  
>She was whispering now.<p>

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

_Because I just made it up now that's why. Oh, please leave! Your pulse, your blood…it's so-NO! _

"Please leave. It hurts, Piper!"

"I have some crystals that could-"

"No it's okay. Just please. Leave."

_Please! It's so hard to not kill you._

She walked out of the room, too slow it seemed, turning back to her leader who'd never once shown signs of pain to her this openly before now, and closed the door.

He got up slowly and walked haltingly to the door. He could hear and feel her through the door. Her pulse had been quite fast for someone who had seemed so calm. Her body temperature was warming up the door where she stood, concentrating on one particular spot; she was holding her hand to the door.

He resisted the urge to place his hand where hers was, it would only make things harder.

After a minute or so she left and Aerrow wandered back to his bed. He sank slowly to the mattress, placing his head in his hands. He raised a hand to his mouth, running a finger over his elongated canines.

With a sigh he let his hand drop.

_Vampire. _

_I thought that vampires had been extinct in Atmos since just after the dragons. Huh, I can just hear Piper saying that! _

He wondered how everyone would take the news if he ever told them or if they ever found out.

_Not enthusiastically that's for sure!_

He felt the _Condor_ turn a little and lurched to his feet. He ran for the door and then down another hallway to the bridge. He halted at the end of the hallway, where the sun could just barely reach.

"Stork," he called, startling everyone, "we're going to stay near Atmosia tonight, and we'll head for Tropica tomorrow."

The pilot shrugged and started back towards the Terra.


	3. Chapter 3

He waited until he was sure that everyone was asleep before slipping out of his room. Now that it was dark he could move around freely and set off for the hanger.

_Nice to see that my skimmer survived I suppose. _

He wheeled the bike out to the edge of the runway, afraid to start the engine in case it woke anybody up. He propelled it over the edge and jumped on in midair finally turning it on and deploying the wings.

He turned around, heading back toward Atmosia, enjoying the feel of the crisp night air in his face.

He landed behind the AGH, the Atmosia General Hospital, covering his skimmer with tree branches hanging low to the ground.

Sucking in a deep breath he pushed the heavy hospital doors open and strolled inside, trying to look casual. He nodded to the night attendants, trying not to breathe and averting his eyes whenever a patient was rolled by on a stretcher.

At last he came to the right door; the label identified it as 'Emergency Blood Supply;' the best place for vampire Sky Knight to come when he doesn't want to kill anyone. He glanced surreptitiously around and without breaking stride stepped into the room.

He looked quickly around to make sure no one was in there besides him and, when he saw nothing, pulled out two tightly folded bags, one from each pocket. One was a regular backpack and the other was kind of like a mail bag. He quickly stuffed as many packets of donated blood, wincing as he did so, into each bag. He strung the mailbag over one shoulder before putting the backpack on and opened the door, peering outside. The hallway had no one in it that he'd seen before and so he stepped out of the room, following some nurses for a bit and then exiting the hospital through a different entrance than the one he'd come in.

When no one was watching him he turned and ran back to where he'd parked his skimmer and took off before anyone noticed his theft.

_That was so wrong! I stole _blood_!_

He wondered, as he flew closer to the _Condor_, how he'd land without waking everyone.

_Guess I'll just have to risk landing the normal way…_

He brought his skimmer as slowly and as close as possible to the deck of the ship before folding the wings and clunking down onto the metal. He turned the engine off, rolled his skimmer back into the hanger, picked up his packs and walked back to his room. He shoved both bags into the cabinet beside his bed and took out one of the pouches. He stared at it, wondering what to do with it. Some instinct seemed to rise in him and he bit through the plastic, reveling as the thick liquid poured into his mouth.

_Now I don't have to kill anyone. _

He wondered what to do now. He had the whole night to do whatever he wanted and no one to disturb him. He flung the empty packet into his trashcan and shoved it behind his bed, opened the door and walked to the bridge. He was delighted to find that his footsteps made no sound as he walked.

Aerrow read for a bit, an exciting fiction about the Dark Ages of Atmos but it wasn't enough to distract him from the sounds of his friends' breathing. So he put the book down, turned on his headphones, took the ship off autopilot and flew. He could see how Stork loved flying so much; it was calming and slightly invigorating. He flew until early morning, when Stork got up and walked onto the bridge. He turned his headphones off, and turned to face him.

"Aerrow, what are you doing?"

"Uh…I couldn't sleep last night so I came out here and…just flew."

Stork regarded him suspiciously and edged around the room to the helm. Aerrow backed away, matching Stork's advance step by step, and then stalked back to his room. At least with that encounter no one would ask where he was: he was tired from staying up all night and needed the sleep.

0o0o

Thanks to Aerrow's flying the ship through the night the Storm Hawks made it to Tropica by 10:00.

"-but he's gonna miss the whole first day!"

"Finn, let him sleep, he was up all night. We'll get him up by noon so he can sleep tonight too. Come on, last one into the water has to make lunch!"

"Hey, no fair, Piper! Wha- Junko put me down!"

There was muffled thump, some splashes and then, "Ha ha, Finn has to make lunch!"

"Are we sure we want that? It could have catastrophic results."

"Very funny, now get me out of here, this sand is cold!"

Aerrow smiled as he listened, glad that they were having so much fun and happy that he wouldn't have to eat whatever dangerous 'meal' Finn cooked up. He waited a few minutes until he heard Stork waddle off the ship with a couple dozen cans of sunscreen under his arms before leaving his room.

He walked slowly to the hanger, stopping once to grab his headphones and CD player. He stopped at the edge of the shadow created by the roof's overhang and sat down. Turning down the music so it was only barely distinguishable from the waves he watched the others playing on the beach.

0o0o

"Hey Piper, should we wake up Aerrow now?"

"He's up."

"He is?"

Piper pointed to the open hanger doors and a small figure in the shadow, "He's been there all day. I just thought he wanted to be alone so I didn't tell you. Maybe you can ask him when you go in to make lunch, hm?"

Finn groaned, glared at her and headed back to the ship. By the time he got up the boarding ramp the sun-filled hanger bay was empty but Aerrow's headphones were still there. Finn picked them up and headed to Aerrow's room, leaving them there when he found the door locked.

Coming back out half an hour later with burnt sandwiches Aerrow's door was still locked. Finn knocked on the door and waited.

"Yeah?" came faintly through the metal.

"I've got some sandwiches if you want some."

The door slid open. Aerrow stood a few feet back from it, looking very uncomfortable and eyed Finn's 'sandwiches.'

"Finn, even if I was hungry I don't think I could eat those. What'd you do, hold them over an open fire?" He laughed lightly.

Finn smiled back, "Maybe. Well, if you change your mind I'll leave some for you. Here."

He held out two sandwiches and Aerrow reached for them and as he did their skin brushed together for an instant. Aerrow stiffened and before Finn could blink the door was shut and locked again. He stared at the door suspiciously, some unknown instinct telling him something he couldn't understand. Then he turned and ran outside,

"Who wants fried cheese sandwiches?"

"Ew Finn, what'd you do to them?"

He groaned.

0o0o

The week went by in the same manner. Aerrow would wait for everyone to leave the ship, no matter how long it took, watch them until someone decided to come aboard then disappear only to come back when the ship emptied again.

"Something's up with Aerrow and we need to figure out what it is."

_No you don't Piper._

"I've got a plan," she announced, "Aerrow's avoiding us, only coming out when we leave right?"

"Yeah"

"So I'll use a cloaking crystal tomorrow and sneak back on board, corner him and make him talk. I'll Paralyze him if I have to. I'm just really worried about him."

Aerrow sighed in his room; listening to his friends like this hurt almost as much as it did to know that he could kill them so easily and not even notice…

Reaching a hurried decision he drained two of his packets and left his room. He walked onto the bridge without anyone noticing him and just stood in the corner, judging how he felt about this. He noticed that only Piper and Finn seemed to attract him; interesting.

He waited until Piper had finished explaining her plan before letting them notice he was there.

"Hey guys."

They spun around, Piper gasped.

"Aerrow! How…how long have been there?"

He grinned, "Few minutes."

She giggled, ashamed, and rubbed her hands together nervously.

"I wasn't really gonna…you know…"

"Guys," he interrupted, "I'm sorry I've been avoiding you, I've just…I just haven't been feeling very well lately and I just...wanted to be alone. I'm sorry. I should have said something earlier."

"So are you gonna come swimming tomorrow? It's the last day, you have to!"

He shook his head, "I can't-"

"What do you mean you can't? Come on that's not fair!" Finn complained.

"Well…" Aerrow compromised, thinking fast, "I'll go with you to the beach but I'm not going in the water. Deal?"

"Deal." Finn held out his hand to shake on it but Aerrow just looked at it. Finn let his hand drop, feeling that instinct again that something was wrong.

0o0o

Aerrow opened the beach umbrella in the hanger and walked with it over his head the whole way. He found a good spot far enough from the water to avoid the glare, or as he put it, Finn's splashing but close enough to satisfy the others.

_This feels…wrong. It's too bright._

"Aerrow, is something wrong?" Piper asked, walking over to him.

"Hmm? No, I'm fine, thanks."

"You've just been sitting there all day. Do you want to take a walk with me?"

"Not really. Thanks for offering though."

"You're still sick."

He didn't answer but stared at the sand by his feet.

Piper tried again, "Want to build a sand castle?"

Aerrow laughed, "Sure, why not?"

0o0o

Aerrow went inside, taking his umbrella, for the whole lunch hour under the excuse that he was making lunch. When the shadows came back so did he, bearing an absolutely huge tray of cold sandwiches ("I got sidetracked, it was kinda fun"). Their eyes boggled when he called from the hanger and they asked how he could hold it all ("I'm a Sky Knight?"). They ate in the shade of the hanger while Aerrow just sat and watched. After a bit he stood, grabbed the beach umbrella and headed back down the beach to his previous spot.

When evening came and it started to get cold he had, in all, constructed three elaborate castles and one sand mermaid that vaguely resembled Piper.

"Come on Aerrow, we're packing up."

He looked up, startled to find that it was dark and followed Piper back to the ship. He walked with her to the kitchen, half in a strange daze, to help clean the tray from earlier. It was when he found himself reaching to turn her around that in a painful rush he realized he hadn't had anything to 'eat' all day. He was pretty much starving.

Abruptly the _Condor_ lurched sideways, throwing them into a wall.

Forgetting for a moment about his affliction and desperate cravings he raced with the others to the bridge.

"What happened?" Junko asked.

"Are we under attack?" Finn cried.

Stork rushed to the _Condor_'s controls and righted the ship. Everyone scoured the dark sky, looking for Cyclonians or Sky Sharks or Raptors, anything.

"There!" Aerrow shouted, pointing at the huge, sudden vortex beside them.

The wind blew again, nearly capsizing their ship.

"Stork, get out of here!"

"Trying" he grunted steering right and stepping on the gas.

The _Condor_ lurched again, this time from her sudden speed boost.

"So…are we staying here?" Stork asked half of a terrifying hour later when they were a safe distance away from the storm.

"No, head for-"

Aerrow convulsed. Clapping his hands to his mouth and avoiding looking at the people in the room, he wheeled blindly and lunged for the door. He made it through and ran.

"Aerrow?" Piper shouted behind him.

He raced to his room, nearly smashing his head on the door when it didn't open fast enough, and sprang for his bedside cabinet.

Piper banged on the door, demanding to know what was wrong.

Aerrow turned and she screamed as the door suddenly opened and he lunged out. His hand wrapped around her neck as they crashed into the wall on the other side of the corridor, he lifted her off her feet with his hand and leaned in close to her face. Suddenly strong in that he would soon satisfy his craving he forestalled the moment, enjoying how her heart raced and her blood pounded through her veins. He smirked at her, revealing his lethal incisors, his fangs.

She gasped in what little air she could with his hand choking her and tried to kick out. She managed to get her legs up and kicked him in the stomach, sending him into the other wall. He growled at her and stepped forward as if to try again but stopped, turning to stare at Finn who was aiming his crossbow.

Aerrow snarled and lunged forward only to be blasted back when Finn fired. They were all confused but the rest of Storm Hawks lit up their weapons and closed in on Aerrow. Finn fired again, a warning, and Aerrow took off down the corridor. The boys chased after him, making sure he left the ship.

Piper sank to the floor, gasping for breath and clutching her throat where Aerrow's hand had been. Radarr crept up to her and whimpered, his own way of asking if she was alright. She started to cry, mostly from shock and reached out to the furry blue creature. She hugged him close and he tried awkwardly to soothe her.

"He's…he's…Oh, Radarr! How could Aerrow…?"

"Piper what was that?"

"Why did Aerrow attack you?"

"He's…he's…" she stuttered, rocking back and forth on her knees.

"Piper! Snap out of it!" Finn shouted, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her, "what's wrong with Aerrow?"

"Vampire" she whispered.


	4. Chapter 4

There was only a shred of the old Aerrow left in control; enough that he didn't really want to hurt his friends, even if they wanted to hurt him first. He'd taken his skimmer, it was faster, and headed for Atmosia. Just in case.

He landed on the edge of the town, just throwing his skimmer down roughly and ran to the first house. Trying not to raise too much attention he decided to knock on the door instead of breaking in. A light came on in the upstairs window and Aerrow smiled. A few seconds later the door opened and short youngish woman stepped out. He jumped forward as she shut the door, pinning her to it and guided his teeth to her throat. She started to scream and he covered her mouth his left hand.

Moments later, his demonic thirst partially satisfied, he let the lifeless body fall to the ground. He smiled to himself and wiped a hand across his mouth, clearing away any blood from his lips. He stepped back into the street and looked up to see the _Condor_ flying over him. He stared after it and then ran in the opposite direction where luck favoured him, not so much the woman walking back to her house with her groceries.

"Aerrow!" Piper shouted angrily as he let the second body fall.

He moved to face her, head preceding his body as he turned and he laughed.

"Hello Piper, pleasure seeing you here."

"Hardly," she snapped, extending her staff and aiming at him.

"Ooh, are you gonna shoot me?" his tone was incredulous but still he smiled, mocking her.

Then he softened his expression and started walking toward her, stretching out his hands as if to take hers though they were a street apart.

"You wouldn't shoot _me_, would you?" He called quietly as he walked.

Piper kept her expression stony, refusing to break her glare but her hand started to shake

She brought her other hand up to grip the staff but still it wavered, moving around in fast little circles. Tears sprang to her eyes and she shook her head. Aerrow didn't stop walking but he looked genuinely upset and he tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Aerrow, stop it" Finn shouted running up to Piper's side.

Aerrow seemed to brighten up, "Hey, Finn! Where are the others?"

"They're coming, now stay there, don't come any closer!"

"Why not?" he stopped walking, "You didn't seem to have a problem with it until now. I mean, I've been around for a whole week…"

"A whole week." Finn repeated, "Aerrow we need to fix you, Vampirism corrupts. You're not you, this isn't the real you!"

"Maybe not," Aerrow agreed, "But I don't really care. It feels good. I mean, just look at this!"

He jumped up and landed on the roof of one of the houses, "I don't know about you, but I certainly couldn't do that before!"

He jumped to the next house and the next, jumping across the road to circle back to them.

"I can see better, hear better, I'm faster, stronger…" he laughed and crouched on the edge of the roof, "There's just that one drawback of killing people. But I suppose I could get used to it."

"Aerrow, come on! Listen to yourself; you're almost justifying murder! We know how to get you back to-"

"Don't think so," he twitched his head to the side and looked back over his shoulder; the sky was getting light.

"Well Finn, have a good day. Catch you later Piper!"

"No! Aerrow!"

He leapt and disappeared behind another house; he was gone when they rounded the corner.

He ran through the thin forest, racing the light. He didn't stop when he came to the edge of the Terra but just kept running and dove off, pulling out the wings of his glider and spiraling out of his free-fall. He circled around under the overhanging rock and came to three fissures in the rock face; three cave entrances cut into near-perfect circles. He chose the left-most one, the shortest, and guided himself into the small entrance, the tips of his glider barely missing the walls. After a few moments he folded back his glider and ran the rest of the short way. He ducked into an open chasm and looked around. Like his 'father' had said it would the cave was entirely suitable for habitation. There were couches and beds, an old bookshelf, a table, even torches.

"Seeing as I'm expecting company I might as well let them see." He walked over to one torch peg and the little canister of oil and flint next to it. He worked his way around the room, lighting each torch and eventually cleaning off the furniture out of boredom as he waited for Finn and Piper to find him.

"Finn, how do you know all this stuff?"

He didn't answer immediately; he was digging under his bed. He came up with a flat, dark wooden box. Still he hesitated. Taking a deep breath he said softly,

"Most of my family were vampire hunters."

"But you said your parents-"

"-were killed yeah, but I was, like, six. Anyway while most people were out killing dragons, my ancestors were killing vampires. Since most of them were paranoid they taught their kids even when the vampires had mostly been wiped out and they taught their kids, who taught their kids; you know the story."

"So you never told us any of this because…?"

"Like I said, it's paranoia. Looks like it came in handy though right? Aerrow didn't kill me. I'd have been the first to go…I'm sorry Piper! I didn't mean to say it like that."

Piper sniffed, wiped the tear from her eye harshly and got up from her kneeling position.

"You said you can fix him, you don't have to kill Aerrow?"

"No, we can bring him back to his normal, human self."

"Come on then, let's go tell Junko, Stork and Radarr."

"We can't go after Aerrow yet. We need some of _his_ blood."

"Does even he have any blood now?"

"Yes he does Junko, that's a myth. But I didn't mean-Okay well I meant Aerrow's blood _before_ he became a vampire."

"Uh…"

"Well Finn, unless _you_ have some kind of time-travel crystal I'd say that's pretty much impossible."

He grinned at everyone, "_Pretty_ much impossible Piper, but not _im_possible. Sky Knights get hurt a lot right? And Aerrow's got a really rare blood type, so they wanted to take some of his blood in case he needed a transfusion or whatever, right?"

"Ohh…I get it. All we have to do is convince the hospital or blood clinic, whatever it is, that we need some of Aerrow's stored blood (Wow, now _that_ sounds wrong) and then you can do whatever you need to do so we can fix him!"

"Right. And I think _I _better do the talking."

"They actually gave you some blood? How'd you do it?"

"I told them we had a friend who didn't trust doctors at all but who needed blood. I told them that we had someone who knew how to transfuse blood, like a shaman, and that if worst came to worst we'd knock out our friend and drag him here. They doubted me but had to give in eventually 'cause they _are_ doctors."

"Wow Finn, how do you come up with this stuff?"

"No comment. Now come on, I have work to do."

It took a few hours during which he permitted no one in his room, though Piper tried more than a few times. Junko, Radarr and Stork were happy enough to just let Finn alone, preoccupied with flying and taking care of the ship and stuff.

Finn worked around in the wooden box, taking out strange tools and occasionally reached back for another vial of Aerrow's blood. When he finished he cleaned and replaced everything from the box and stored the rest of the blood in the cooler he usually hid food in. He opened the door and nearly ran into Piper.

"Oops, sorry" she apologized quickly.

Finn held out his hand. In it rested a mint box full of tiny red pills.

"Are those…"

"Yep."

"But how did you-"

"Can't tell. All you need to know is that if we get Aerrow to swallow one, he can be fixed."

"But the one won't fix him, will it?"

"No, he needs to ingest a certain amount even after he seems normal."

"Okay, let's get the others and go find Aerrow."

He nodded and led the way to the bridge. He called everyone over and laid the mint box on the round table.

"Stork, we need you to circle the terra above and below the cloud line until you find a cave or some other place Aerrow could be hiding. If you don't we'll all search the Wastelands again but I doubt we'll have to. These disgusting little pills are pretty much Aerrow's blood in capsule form. If anyone finds him, try and get him to eat one and _then_ call us."

Stork walked back to the helm, mumbling, "Oh, this is bad. This is really, really bad! Vampire! Ah!"

"Relax Stork. The only one's he's going to go after are me and Piper."

"Why?" Junko asked.

"We're human and vampire's target humans. Your blood is different and I don't think they can eat it, you guys are fine."

Finn could hear Stork's teeth chatter anyway as he steered the ship down. Everyone waited in tense silence and as they came around to the other side of the Terra. Stork slowed the ship, bringing it to hover in front of three crevices in the rock.

"Which one, Finn?" Piper asked.

"Why are you looking at me? I don't know!"

"Then how are we gonna find him?"

"Hmm…I could take one entrance, Junko takes another and Stork-"

"No way, man! I won't go and you can't make me!"

"Stork, we need to save Aerrow!"

"He seems perfectly fine to me! Animals kill people all the time; we can let Aerrow get better by himself, he'll learn to control it…"

"But-"

"No, Piper, let him stay. If you want to you can take his place and Stork can wait here with the _Condor_. If we miss…well, Aerrow's not going to able to go anywhere, its daylight out and you know that whole vampires burn in the sun thing, that's not fake."

"Okay."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Oh...Aerrow killed some people, how terrible. *Sarcasm*<em>**

**_This is a terrible place to end a chapter but the next section is quite long when added and I really don't care that much, so whatever.  
><em>**


	5. Chapter 5

They divided up the pills equally and grabbed a flashlight each. Radarr wanted to go with Piper both to help her and to try to help Aerrow. No one argued.

"I'll go in the middle one, Junko you take the right one, Piper and Radarr you go in the left one, good?"

"Yeah"

"Sure"

Stork maneuvered the ship as close as possible to the rock and they jumped into the cave mouths. Staring after the last rays of sunlight Piper crept forward, staff at the ready, Radarr on her shoulder. For a while they could hear the sound of Finn stumbling along next to them but that soon faded and the darkness increased. Piper turned the flashlight on and tried to control her breathing. She flinched every time a drop of water hit her arms or her face and shivered as she walked farther into the terra's depths.

The path was pretty straight and a faint breeze blew past her, increasing the number of goose-bumps on her arms. After about fifteen minutes of slow trekking she noticed the darkness thinning and heard someone calling her name.

The sound drifted past her ears, quiet and eerie but familiar, leaving no doubt that Aerrow was down there.

"Piper…I'm so glad you chose the short path…ha-ha-ha."

He laughed quietly but the sound echoed loudly in her head. She approached the end of the path even more cautiously, jumping down into the open bright-lit cavern.

She was awed in spite of herself at the homely accommodations and at first didn't notice the ominous silhouette across the room. Radarr growled and jumped off Piper's shoulder, standing protectively in front of her.

"Radarr," Piper said, noting how futile is would have been to whisper, "go get Finn or Junko. Please."

The little blue animal whined at her, and then scampered to the crevice on their left, disappearing back into the dark tunnel. Neither of the teens spoke for a while; Piper was waiting for Aerrow to break the silence. Aerrow did as soon as Radarr was out of hearing range.

"Come to try and 'fix' me Piper or did you want to join me?"

"Join you?"

"Don't act like that, it hurts!" He stepped into the torchlight, the flickering flame making the circles under his eyes more prominent, his eyes flash eerily, "Of course I want you to join me. I love you Piper and I want you to be with me forever. This way we can, and we can _rule_."

Despite his mind being corrupted by his thirst for blood and whatever else Finn had said, his confession of love made Piper blush. But then her face turned red in anger.

"Since when do you want to 'rule' anything?"

He shrugged, "Since I can, maybe. I don't know. But do you want to? Think of the possibilities Piper! No more risking our lives to save people we don't know, no more taking orders from old men who sit in a dusty building all day, no more worrying if we'll get out a mission alive. We can do whatever we want and not worry about anything."

"Finn said the vampire venom corrupts people's minds. Maybe he had it wrong, maybe it just makes a person ambitious or it brings their hatred up front and gives them the will to complete it. I don't know. What I do know is that I don't want to be a vampire. I don't want to hurt people, I want to save them."

Aerrow looked at her, tilting his head again in confusion. Then he stepped forward and smirked at her, "Doesn't seem to me that you have much of a choice. The other tunnels that Junko and Finn took lead on for miles and either way I can run faster than you-"

Piper sighed and reached a hand to the pouch in her hip, "Aerrow, I have something here that can reverse the venom and make you _you _again. But I also have a crystal that can seriously hurt you."

She looked up at him and frowned, she stepped forward, walking along the wall toward where Aerrow stood.

"I don't want to do this Aerrow, but I will if you make me. Finn and Junko each have one too," she brought the Solaris crystal out of the pouch and aimed it at Aerrow's heart. His smirk faltered and he began to back away, matching her pace along the wall. He reached the first tunnel and almost fell over backward. He caught himself and jumped into it without turning around. Piper jogged over to the tunnel, keeping in the centre of the cave and stalked forward again.

"Piper, don't do this."

"It doesn't seem like I have much of a choice, Aerrow, does it?"

"You'd really kill me?"

"No, but I will hurt you if I have to."

They walked back along the tunnel, Aerrow speeding up when Piper did and eventually they neared the end. Aerrow stopped at the edge of the light's penetration, whipping his head between Piper and her crystal and the outside sunlight.

"Piper," his voice broke, like he was going to cry and she hesitated.

"Aerrow, I'll give you a choice here. I have some pills of your blood that can change you back. You can take one or I light this crystal and you burn. It's your decision."

He looked once more from Piper to the outside and back. Then he turned and jumped, throwing his arms over his head.

He hit the _Condor_'s launch pad and fell to his knees.

It hurt! It burned! His whole body was on fire and he couldn't stop it! He heard Piper shout his name and opened his eyes. It was so bright out! His eyes burned too!

He lurched to his feet and lunged under into the hanger's shadow. He rubbed his eyes hard, trying to force them to adjust to the light and then stared in horror at the smoke coming off his skin. There was a hiss, a door opened and Stork inched out, freezing as he saw Aerrow kneeling in a corner, his skin burned and reddened, still smoking slightly. Stork held out another Solaris crystal and Aerrow flinched, raising a burnt arm to shield his face. When nothing happened he peeked around his arm and noted that Stork was just blocking the door. Still gasping for air he lowered his arm. He licked his lips and glanced around the hanger, still squinting at the light outside.

There were three thuds on the metal as Piper, Junko, and Finn with Radarr on his shoulder landed on the deck. Crystals held ready they approached slowly, taking in the crouched, red and seriously sun-burned form of their troubled friend. Piper lowered her crystal and motioned for the others to do the same: he couldn't hurt them in the sun. His eyes flashed between each of them, unsure of what they were going to do now.

"He looks so vulnerable," Piper whispered, "like a lost kid."

"He's not Piper. He's a wounded, hungry vampire who thinks you look really tasty right now."

"Aerrow," Piper ignored Finn and stepped forward, only a foot from the shadows, "Aerrow I love you too and I want to help you. I have something that will make you feel all better. Do you want it?"

"He's not a baby Piper. He still thinks the same, if not better than before."

But Aerrow nodded. Piper reached again into the pouch and took out a small plastic canister. She unscrewed the lid and shook two red pills onto her hand.

"If you take these Aerrow I guarantee you will feel better."

She left her hand an inch from the shadow and waited for him to come to her. He crept slowly forward, on his hands and bent knees and stopped at the shadow's edge. He reached a hand up and left his fingers at the extreme edge of the sunlight, waiting now for her. As she complied, he retracted his own hand until her fingers were well into the darkness.

Finn saw what was going to happen and lunged forward, the crystal slipping out of his hands as he did so.

Aerrow gripped Piper's hand, yanking her whole body into the hanger, scattering the blood pills and raised her hand to his mouth. He bit down, breaking the skin as Finn jumped.

Piper gasped as the skin on Aerrow's arms and head began to heal and as his strength returned (he knocked Finn away like she'd swat a fly). She grew somewhat drowsy but soon felt her arm drop. Junko had broken from his horrified trance and lifted Aerrow off of her, throwing him roughly into the other wall. Aerrow snarled fiercely and leapt to his feet but instead of attacking he knocked the remaining Solaris crystal from Stork's hand and sprinted into the _Condor_'s hallways.

"Piper, are you okay?"

"Hmm," she moaned.

"Well, she's still alive and it doesn't seem like he drank that much blood."

"Finn?"

"Junko?"

"Is she gonna turn into a vampire now?"

"No. He'd have had to let the venom spread but he drank it all back with her blood. Come on, Junko you carry Piper, we need to find Aerrow."

"No problem," Stork said as the ship maneuvered away from the rock, "he's on the bridge."

"But where's he going? The sun's shining he doesn't have any place _to_ go!" Finn yelled as they raced along the main corridor to the bridge.

The door burst open and the rest of the Storm Hawks filed in. Aerrow spun around, letting go of the helm and glared at each of them.

"Piper, I gave you this choice already and now I'm offering Finn. _Join_ me!"

He smiled openly at them. "We could be great; we could _force_ people to respect us-!"

"Yeah, and what about Junko and Stork and Radarr, what are you gonna do to them?" Finn challenged.

"I can't change _them_ obviously so they'd be useless to us. We could let them go, to start a panic, warn the people, it's up to them."

"You wouldn't kill them?" Finn asked doubtfully.

"I said we _could_ let them go."

"Stop saying _we_! The only _we_ is me and Piper and _we_ are staying human!"

"Suit your selves" he shrugged, "ow!"

He yanked his foot out of the sunlight, backing away from the advancing light to the corner.

"Looks like you steered us on a path full into the sun, Mr. Vampire." Stork intoned, clasping his fingers together and grinning wickedly.

Aerrow's eyes flashed frantically, judging how the others had spread out to block him into the sun and how far the _Condor_ had turned to face it. Then abruptly he calmed down again, returning Stork's wicked smile.

"What you guys don't know is that the Storm Hawks received a distress signal for these coordinates while we were all sunbathing."

He dashed to the helm, yanking the handle down and sideways to the left. The ship nearly flipped over as Aerrow dove down, smashing through the glass and leaving the others caught along the railing in the middle of the room.

* * *

><p><strong><em>When Finn says, "The only we is me and Piper" he means it in a purely, 'we're human and you're not' way.<em>**


	6. Chapter 6

He turned his head away from the sun as he fell out of the ship's shadow and curled in on himself. Once below the clouds he uncurled painfully and awkwardly deployed his glider. He wove crazily down through the Wastelands as if he himself had been in a deadly crash and was trying to get steady. He crashed harmlessly into the ground a few feet from the crash survivor's camp and lay still, listening.

"Is he alive?"

"Who is it?"

"What happened?"

He could hear and feel the people closing in on him, then a pair of strong hands was lifting him and he remained limp as they carried him into a makeshift shelter. He opened his eyes slowly and painfully twisted his head, looking around at the worried faces crowded close to his.

"Howdy stranger," one of the men said, "It's a right coincidence if yer ship crashed in the same place as ours."

"It didn't," Aerrow said, sitting up and pressing a hand to his temple, "I'm Aerrow, of the-"

"Storm Hawks? But then how'd you end up crashin' and where's the rest of them kids?"

He bristled, "They're not kids!"

"Okay, sorry. But what happened?"

Aerrow licked his lips but reminded himself to wait for Piper and Finn, "I fell off the ship."

The survivors blinked at him in silence.

"What? Accidents happen, I tripped and fell! As for the others they should be here soon."

One of the women came forward and pressed a soft cloth to the burns on his neck. He winced and suppressed the urge to turn and kill her; it wouldn't serve his plan.

After while he heard tiny vibrations in the air; Piper's heliscooter he assumed. Soon now.

"There they are!" Someone shouted.

The survivors crowded outside leaving Aerrow alone in the tent. He stood up slowly and waited.

He heard the shouts before anyone else, "Run!" Piper was shouting, "Vampire! He'll kill you, run!"

Those nearest the tent turned to look at Aerrow. He stood with his fists clenched, his legs apart and ready to run, and his head bent. He looked up at them and grinned, his teeth flashing in the dim light of the nearby lava. They stampeded and scattered, racing in every direction to get as far away as fast as possible. Aerrow lunged forward and caught the big man who'd first spoken by the shoulder. He whipped the man around but the man fought back. Locking his fingers together he brought his hands down hammer-like on the burns at the back of Aerrow's neck. Aerrow cried out in pain and let the man go. He tried to run away but Aerrow caught him again and, this time not giving him any chance to fight back, sank his teeth into the man's neck; as before the burns along his body cleared up and he felt the strength they had sapped returning. He heard a gasp behind him and dropped the still thrashing man to the ground. The girl screamed as Aerrow turned, and he flashed her a bloody smirk.

"Aerrow!"

He looked up to face Piper, Finn, and Junko, and let the girl have a head start. He saw to his satisfaction that Piper's hand was bandaged and held awkwardly across her chest.  
>"Piper, Finn," he greeted, refusing to acknowledge the Wallop; "I told you there was a distress signal here, didn't I?"<p>

They continued to stare at each other for a few more moments; until Junko maneuvered his skimmer closer to Finn's and tried to whisper to him. Finn nodded and relayed the message to Piper,

"_We're going to pick up the rest of the survivors_."

Piper nodded as well and the boys flew off in different directions.

"I'd _love_ to stay Piper, really, but there's someone else I want to meet who has a very…delicious personality. You saw her, brown hair, blue eyes…"

He smiled, challenging her.

"Jessie…" moaned the half-dead man at Aerrow's feet.

Aerrow looked at him with something close to disgust and his foot shot out making the man curl in on himself in agony.

"Jessie," Aerrow murmured, "Nice name, thanks."

"No!"

Aerrow took off, running the same path the girl had and caught up to her easily. His objective was obviously fear, to get her blood pounding because he stayed close enough to her to keep her running but far enough away to make her think she had a chance.

Piper followed on her heliscooter, fumbling with a crystal and trying to steer.

The girl made it to a dusty clearing and sprinted faster and tripped.

0o0o

The Cyclonian patrols hovered in the Wasteland sky, listening dumbfounded to a repeating message on their radios.

One of the lower ranked Talons flew to the front to their commanding officer.

"Should we alert the Master?"

The squad leader nodded and opened a secure channel.

"Master Cyclonis, this is Talon squad three five eighty…"

"This better be good." The voice was eerie and quiet even on the radio.

"It is Master Cyclonis, it is! We've intercepted a distress signal that, well, here I'll let you listen."

He pressed a few buttons and shocked the queen of Cyclonia into a frenzied stillness.

"_He'll kill us…_" came a weak, strangled voice to interrupt the static, "_He'll kill us all…Aerrow…Storm Hawk…__**vampire**__!_"

Over and over the message played until finally the anxious Talon broke the transmission.

"Orders, Master?" He asked cautiously, hesitating.

"Find the coordinates of that message and scout the area. If what that man says is true, weaken the Storm Hawk any way you can and bring him to me!"

0o0o

The girl went sprawling along the dusty ground and Aerrow slowed to a walk. The girl spun around, twisting her hips and pushing herself back along the dirt. He held out his hands in a gesture that would have been taken as a gentle embrace had he not been wearing a malicious grin.

Piper dropped altitude and grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her onto the scooter and flying out of Aerrow's reach. He swore in fury and jumped, trying to grab either girl back. Piper just pulled higher up and he fell to the ground swinging his fist and punching the dirt.

Piper turned to the girl and asked her to pull an aqua coloured crystal out of the container behind her. The girl complied and Piper aimed it at Aerrow. A net of crystal energy shot out of it, encompassing him but leaving a wide radius inside.

Aerrow reached out and touched a finger to the bubble; the yellowish energy zapped him and he cried out, withdrawing his hand and leaping simultaneously backwards. He glared at Piper through the semi-transparent shield as she landed her scooter and dismounted.

"Come on Piper, let me out!"

"I don't think so Aerrow, not until we fix you. Or have to kill you."

He gave up on her and turned to the other girl, staring directly into her eyes, "Jessie, do _you_ want to let me out?"

She took a half-step toward Piper and the crystal then shook her head as if to clear it and shouted, "No way!"

He spun away, snarling and stalked to the other side of the circular cage. He slammed his fists into the wall but was only knocked backwards. He stepped forward again and punched the wall thrice more to the same futile result. He staggered back and glared maliciously at the two girls, slapping his fist again near Piper's head.

Piper stepped forward as Aerrow walked back to where they stood and looked him quickly up and down; he looked different. Aerrow's skin was sallower and the black circles under his eyes seemed darker and larger than they had only moments ago.

"What?" he spat, "This is how you're going to keep me? Locked up like an animal?"

He sounded tired too and his shoulders were hunched in apparent exhaustion. Piper thought quickly, wondering and hoping for something she didn't know if she'd ever get. She lifted her damaged hand started unwrapping the bandage, letting it fall to the ground when she finished. Jessie and Aerrow were staring at her in confusion, but she ignored them and tilted toward a nearby pool of lava for light. Clenching her teeth she ripped back the weak skin on her hand and let the blood flow freely. She held her hand out as close to Aerrow as she could with the crystal net around him. He turned away, staring hard at nothing in particular.

"I know what you're doing."

"You're weak Aerrow, you need it. Come on, turn around."

He was breathing like a marathon runner by then, smelling the liquid he needed through the net. He shook his head but, involuntarily it seemed, turned around. He stared at the redness dripping from Piper's wound and licked his lips; he stepped closer to the energy wall. Piper shivered inside, both in fear and disgust but still she held her hand high for him to see.

He reached a hand out slowly to take hers, all vision of the impairing shield gone from his sight. He was shocked more violently than before and when he fell to the ground he didn't get up. He just lay there, breathing hard and shivering.

"It's cold Piper," he whispered, "so cold."

Piper picked up the bandage and let Jessie rewrap her hand. She then raised the aqua crystal and let the net dissolve; Aerrow didn't even twitch.

Then he laughed, a choked bark, "Might wanna get on that scooter of yours Piper, they're coming."

"Who's coming?"

"Talons, it sounds like."

A blast of red energy missed Piper by inches as he said it and the girls jumped.

She heard Junko calling from a distance and looked from her heliscooter to Aerrow and back. If she took him with her, he would surely jut eat them considering how hungry and weak he was so she made a frantic decision and left Aerrow where he was. She'd come back. She mounted her scooter, taking Jessie with her and flew up to battle.

0o0o

A single Talon who'd broken away before the Cyclonians had made their presence known, flew low to the ground and parked near where Aerrow lay. He grabbed some supplies Master Cyclonis had sent to them and stepped cautiously closer to the vampire boy on the ground in front of him. He bent down and, when Aerrow didn't protest, hurriedly snapped a strange human muzzle around his head and crystal handcuffs on his wrists. Then he dragged Aerrow to his skimmer and threw him across the front of the ride, switching him to the wing when he was airborne.

One of the Cyclonians kept looking at the ground during the short battle which gave the Storm Hawks a small advantage but when he looked down a fifth time Finn suspected something. He looked down with the Talon and noticed the man's comrade flying off with Aerrow.

"No! Do you have any idea what-?"

"Yeah, now keep yer mouth shut kid."

The Cyclonian fired one more shot then turned and flew off, the rest of his team following.

"Finn what is it?"

"Nothing good: the Talons took Aerrow!"

They turned and flew up to the Condor wondering and fearing how the Cyclonians having Aerrow, as a vampire, would play out, fearing that they knew and would use it. Their fears were confirmed when they met Starling on the landing strip.

"What's going on?" she demanded, "There was a radio transmission, it just cut out, that was warning people that Aerrow _of the Storm Hawks_ was a _vampire_! I repeat, what is going on?"

"Uh, Starling, you might wanna come inside. Please," Piper grabbed her wrist and guided the confused Sky Knight into the hanger, "Finn can explain everything."

* * *

><p><strong><em>Notice how Aerrow's thinking of the Storm Hawks as 'them' and not 'us' already?<em>**


	7. Chapter 7

**_This is where is gets rather violent._**

* * *

><p>Aerrow was completely limp as the Talons, holding him by the upper arms, dragged him into Cyclonis' main throne room. He blinked wearily at the floor, not having the strength to look up and see who was staring at him.<p>

"He's still alive?" A girl's voice echoed across the room.

"As alive as he could be under the circumstances, Master."

Cyclonis snorted, "Fair enough."

There was a swish of fabric, a clink of metal, people fidgeting.

"Dark Ace, go to the infirmary and ask the surgeon for some blood. Use this glass."

More air moving, a faint smack as glass hit flesh.

"Blood?" Dark Ace asked incredulously.

"You'll soon understand, now go and be quick about it."

He returned ten minutes later slightly out of breath but with the blood. Aerrow twitched his head, a feeble attempt to look up, to identify with the smell.

A signal from Cyclonis and the two guards dropped Aerrow; he fell to the floor and lay still, struggling for breath. He could now faintly see the Dark Ace who was staring at him, and Cyclonis doing likewise.

"Dark Ace, remove the mouth guard and open his mouth. Watch your fingers."

"But-"

"Do not question me, Dark Ace!"

He glanced at the girl again and walked over to the eerily pale boy on the floor. He turned his head and unbuckled the straps, the muzzle rolled across the floor and disappeared into the dark corner. He turned Aerrow over and grabbed the boy's jaw yanking it down. He gasped and jumped up, looking from Cyclonis to Aerrow and back in blatant confusion.

"The blood, Dark Ace, before he dies" chastised Cyclonis, gesturing to the abandoned glass.

"What! Do you have any idea how _stupid_ it is to feed a…a vampire?"

"Just do it or I'll feed _you_ to him!"

She pulled a yellow crystal out of her pocket as she said it, waving it in front of her henchman's eyes. He glared at her but recognized the crystal and obeyed. Reaching behind him for the blood, he sat down and propped the boy's head on his lap and opened Aerrow's mouth again. He carefully, and only of his master's wishes, poured a drop of the thick liquid down the boy's throat, wincing as he did so.

Aerrow's eyes were closed and he was breathing harder, obviously weakening, so Dark Ace tipped the cup higher and poured out a larger amount. Aerrow choked and he leaned back, avoiding tiny, flying drops of blood. But Aerrow swallowed and he stared in amazement at the difference that tiny amount made; already the boy's skin had more colour, his breathing seemed less desperate, his eyes opened and they were lighter. He was still weak and disoriented so Dark Ace took the opportunity to feed him the rest of the blood. As gently as he dared he pushed Aerrow's head off of his leg and stood, backing away to stand next to his master.

The guards took Aerrow by the arms again and stood him on his feet where he swayed and almost buckled over by remained upright. The guards kept hold of him for security but also to catch him if necessary, and one of them replaced the mouth guard.

Cyclonis spoke but not to Aerrow, "Take him down to the lowest cells, the ones with smallest windows, then go to the infirmary for another bottle of blood to leave with him."

"Yes Master Cyclonis."

They bowed awkwardly and left, half-dragging Aerrow along the stone floor.

Dark Ace turned to his master, barely containing the angry cries he felt jump up this throat and glared at her; as with most of the Atmos he feared the vampires almost enough to kill his own master to avoid one and he thought she was taking a huge risk, even with the Solaris crystal.

0o0o

They threw him into the cell and he fell, shivering, to the floor. One of the guards left immediately for the infirmary, anxious but wary to fulfill his master's orders. The remaining guard entered, leaving the door open, not fearing that his prisoner would be able to get up and escape, and assured that even if he was locked in his friend could let him out. He quietly unlocked the prisoner's handcuffs and removed the mouth guard, tossing them into the corner of the cell. He stretched back up, looked at the pale boy in front of him and turned to leave.

Aerrow reached out and grasped the man's ankle; the Talon fell forward and, trying to steady himself, grabbed the bars of the cell's door. But the door only slammed shut locking him in with the weak, hungry vampire boy. He spun around but Aerrow had already hauled himself over, pinning the man down. The guard tried to scream but it lasted only a second as Aerrow clamped his hand over the man's mouth. He bit through the flesh of the Cyclonian's neck and drank greedily, his energy returning.

Moments later he threw off the body and hauled the corpse into the darkest corner of the cell, and then he sat and waited for the other guard. It didn't take long, the man returned five minutes later holding a thick black plastic bottle with a strap over his shoulder. Aerrow stood as the man approached, calling for his friend. He stepped up to the bars, peering into the darkness in confusion.

A white hand shot out, clamping itself around his throat, crushing the main arteries in the man's neck. He whipped his hands up, desperately clawing at the cold hand that was choking out his life but he didn't even budge the boy's littlest finger. Aerrow squeezed harder, severing the veins and letting the warm blood flow free under the skin. The man stopped struggling and he took advantage, reaching for the keys on the man's belt and opening the door, his hand still around the Talon's throat. As he swung the door open he dropped the body and slipped around the metal door, kneeling down and removing the leather strapped bottle from the man's shoulder. He reached out and angled the man's head around to face what little light penetrated the deepest dungeon of Cyclonia, watching as the last life dripped out of his victim, and then he fed again.


	8. Chapter 8

He felt different, almost clearer, as he strapped the leather to his own shoulder and closed the cell door behind him, locking in the two corpses of Cyclonis' Talons. He felt more like 'Aerrow' than he had in a while but now he forced himself to concentrate on getting out and finding Piper.

He stopped at a corner, listening for any guards. He didn't want to kill any more right now. He grabbed the plastic bottle to stop it from bouncing and ran down a few more halls.

Then he stopped, listening to the voices floating through a crack in the door down the hall. It sounded like…Dark Ace and Cyclonis.

He crept closer, trying to see in and make sure because everything sounded different now. As soon as he touched the door an alarm sounded, piercing everyone's ears and nearly frightening half a dozen people to death. Aerrow screamed in agony and slammed his hands over his ears, falling to his knees and touching his head to the cold metal floor.

As suddenly as it had started the screeching alarm shut off. But the echoes hurt just as much and Aerrow stayed in his near-fetal position, cringing in agony on the floor of Cyclonia.

The master and her highest servant stepped cautiously into the hallway and gasped, one in horror, the other in amazement to find the vampire here. Dark Ace stepped back into the doorway, glaring but not completely hiding his fear. Cyclonis shook her head and bent down, quickly snapping a tight nylon cord around his neck. She pulled her hands back but not before he could grab onto her wrist. Her heartbeat increased desirably but he wasn't hungry; he just held her wrist, feeling the throbbing pulse and demanded,

"Take it off."

Cyclonis smiled slightly and shook her head, as she did so the small crystal fragment in the strap around Aerrow's neck lit up.

"Aah!" He dropped her hand and grabbed the strap, trying to rip it off but it only burned his hand.

"Perfect. Amazing how much more easily you can be controlled now that you're not human."

He glared at her and stood up, angling his body away like he was going to run. But he just continued to glare with darker-than-usual eyes as she glared back.

"Well?" He said, bracing himself for the next little while as the darkness returned to his thoughts.

"Well what?"

"If I'm going to be your prisoner/slave for the next little bit aren't you going to tell me your plan?"

"Maybe," she said, "but then I still don't trust you and as I see it, you don't need the entire plan anyway but only the part you're to play at the moment."

"What? You think I'll go running off to the Storm Hawks or something? They don't really trust me right now, not that I blame them because then I have plans of my own."

"And those would be?"

"Come now _Master_, there's to be no humans, or humanoids, trusting the vampire so why should the vampire trust the humans? You really think I'd tell you, human or not?"

"I can make you," she hissed, and made the crystal around his neck glow faintly.

Aerrow stepped forward, Cyclonis and Dark Ace backed into the room,

"Then why are you so scared, Cyclonis?"

"I'm not scared, I have no reason to be, however I am disgusted."

"Then why's your heart rate so fast?" He reached out and poked her shoulder; Cyclonis barely stifled a scream as she jumped back into the Dark Ace.

Aerrow laughed, "It's because you know, isn't it, that all it takes is a drop of blood from any of you to heal me."

"You'll run out, that bottle isn't that big," she pushed herself away from her unusually silent henchman and brought herself to her full height, glaring into Aerrow's eyes in an attempt to restore dignity.

Aerrow laughed again, "Could you be so narrow-minded or is it fear? You've got plenty of blood in _you_, Master, more than enough to heal whatever damage this tiny crystal would ever be able to do. But I'm done threatening, tell me my part in your plan and I'll leave."

0o0o

Cyclonis explained what she wanted of him, telling him that the Dark Ace would fill him in on the specifics later.

They were to set off from one of the bunkers beneath the cloud line just after twelve in the afternoon in order to get to Atmosia by sundown.

Cyclonis had someone bring Aerrow some new clothes and he threw out his old uniform. The new clothes were all black and fashioned pretty close to how his old ones were and they fit perfectly, like she'd been prepared for this.

Dispelling any creeping feelings about that he picked up his daggers and regarded them a moment before slipping them into the holsters on his back. He met back with the Dark Ace outside Cyclonis' throne room and they walked, Aerrow slightly ahead, to one of the lower hangers. A Talon switchblade was provided for Aerrow and he took off first.

They flew for a few hours in silence.

"I love how you're always so arrogant and fearless Dark Ace," Aerrow finally said over the radio, turning back to look at the older man, "I usually can't get you to shut up."

Dark Ace glared at him but kept silent, flying a little closer and closing some of the large gap of airspace between them.

"There, see? Being in close proximity doesn't change anything you know."

Another few hours passed and they came to a stop before the rocky mountain supporting the Terra.

"Wanna go see if the sun's down yet?" Aerrow asked casually, turning slowly to face the Cyclonian.

Dark Ace growled low in his throat and glared, making no move to fly above the clouds.

"Here," Aerrow said, raising his hands. He gripped the handles of his energy blades, unsheathed them and threw them at the older man, "Trust me now?"

"No," but he flew up anyway.

Aerrow angled his skimmer to follow and flew just slightly into the lowest cloud to the left of where the Dark Ace had gone up. When the man came back down and looked around Aerrow jumped. Head first; he extended his fist, smiling as it met with his enemy's head, and landed on the wing of the Talon skimmer. Dark Ace slumped forward over the controls and Aerrow kneeled down, flying them both to a tiny ledge on the underside of Atmosia, glad that their timing had been correct; the sun was down.

Aerrow pulled the older man off the bike, letting his feet hit the ground, raising tiny puffs of brown dust. He grabbed the Dark Ace under his shoulders, hauled him over to the opening of the small cave leading deep into the Terra.

"My son returns…and with a human," the voice floated through the near-darkness, seemingly proud and slightly relieved.

Aerrow grunted in response, not knowing what else to do, and shifted his hand for a better hold; he gasped. Aerrow let go of his now semi-conscious victim and dropped to his knees, his hands moved to his chest; he clutched to his torso, face screwed up in pain. His heart throbbed erratically, agonizingly, as if fighting for its last few beats. He heard neither footsteps nor explanations from the old, old man a few meters away; fear joined the stabbing in his chest.

And then it stopped; the pain receded and his heart resumed its regular rhythm. He stood up, panting, remembering the explanation given to him a week ago.

"Come," the older vampire said, voice echoing along the dampish walls.

Aerrow picked the Dark Ace up the same way as before and staggered into the open cave.

"A snack?" the man asked, smiling faintly. His pale blonde hair glistening slightly in the torch-light and tiny flames reflected in his eyes.

"No," Aerrow huffed, sitting the half-conscious man against the wall, "he's a question…and a messenger."

"Oh?" the old man stepped closer, right hand massaging his left, anticipating.

Aerrow squatted down, shook the Dark Ace's shoulder roughly, "You paying attention?"

Dark Ace smacked his hand away, sitting himself upright; he looked around, and froze. The blood drained from his face as he realized where he was, and whose company he was in. The older vampire chuckled darkly at this reaction.

"Listen," Aerrow said to both, "I wanted to ask, could you change the Dark Ace for me?"

The other two paused in shock,

"Him? /Me?" they asked at the same time.

Aerrow nodded, waiting for an answer.

The old man asked, "Does he have any family, friends, close companions that he'd ever want to change?"

Both vampires looked at the Cyclonian; Dark Ace made no move to answer.

"Master Cyclonis I'd guess" Aerrow volunteered, "and then she'd want to turn her army to take over the world."

"Then 'no,' for even if she turned only certain people within her forces, they would have loved ones they would also wish to turn. Those people would have loved ones, etc."

"Never mind then. My real question: can you turn Piper?"

"I would answer with my first question."

"She's an orphan. She'd probably want to turn Starling if anyone, but Starling doesn't have anyone either."

"Then 'yes,' but you'll need to get her down here though, or at least to Atmosia.

"I can do it," Aerrow said with confidence.

The two continued to talk among themselves, ignoring the Dark Ace. He didn't pay them much attention either; he was close to panic, hyperventilating, sweating. He had to get away, get back to Cyclonia, warn his master. He would run. Bracing himself mentally he moved his legs slowly under him, movements halting, trying not to draw the others' attentions. He got to his feet, still crouched without having either of them look over at him; he tried to straighten up. His sweat-soaked hand slipped on the naturally damp wall, his hand scraping against the rock face; blood welled in the long gash down his arm. He looked up from his hand; Aerrow and the man who called him his son had frozen, turned around to look at him. Dark Ace whipped his hand behind his back, too late; dark, hungry eyes flashed to his face, locked with his. Both vampires opened their mouths, baring fangs, a feral hiss passing over two sets of lips.

Something buzzed at the back of the old, old man's mind; his son needed this man alive. He was weaker, hungrier, but older and more in control. He could resist. However his son was newer, ruled more by instinct. He jumped as his created son lunged toward the human man, grabbing him by the waist and pulling him away. Aerrow fought back, pushing at the restraining arms, kicking at the old, old man, all the while keeping his eyes locked on the wounded human.

He had to get the boy out of here while he cleaned the blood and bandaged the scratch. He released one of his arms from the boy's body, clamped his fingers around his throat. Immediately it became a struggle for survival; lack of oxygen could still kill the boy. Aerrow's hands flew up to scrabble at the man's fingers as he was lifted off his feet. The old man tensed, used his unnatural strength to throw his son to the entrance of the cave. He ran to him before the boy could get up, grabbed his shoulder and shoved him farther and farther down the tunnel. Emerging in the clean, night air he forced the boy to stand still and take a deep breath; the old, old man saw reason return to his eyes. Aerrow put his left hand to his temple,

"Ow," he said.

The man chuckled, "I know. If you don't want to kill that man in there, I suggest you stay out here while I clean up."

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><p><strong><em>You know that whole 'father' and 'son' thing is purely that the old man made Aerrow a vampire, right?<em>**


	9. Chapter 9

Aerrow leapt agilely off the skimmer and in the same movement, turned and shoved the Dark Ace into the driver's seat.

"Gonna run back to your Master and tell her all about my big bad plans?" he mocked, "Better hurry before the sun rises so I can't come after you."

He smirked at the silent commander, folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow at him.

Dark Ace stared and then revved the engine and took off from Atmosia, flying full speed back to Cyclonia. Aerrow watched as the skimmer got farther and farther away, growing smaller until it was a mere speck on the horizon, and then he turned. He started off across the small section of field he'd landed in and headed for Atmosia's main market. He paused not five steps away, sensitive new ears picking up the not so distant sounds of engines: two skimmers…and a heliscooter. The skimmers came first, roaring over the tops of the trees; they split up, one going left, the other right. They circled around, angling down until they were meters above the ground before folding their wings and skidding to a stop just out of range.

The heliscooter, being much slower than both the skimmers still had not appeared and he kept facing in its direction, but he glanced left and right to see who had surrounded him. Finn and Starling, both with weapons drawn and ready, were glaring at him. Finally the heliscooter arrived, flying just above the tree line. Piper dropped straight down into the field, skidding sideways to a stop just in front of him. He was surrounded on three sides by the Storm Hawks and Starling, on the last, by the edge of the Terra.

"Hello," he said pleasantly.

"Aerrow" Piper responded, her voice emotionless.

"Hmm" he clasped his hands behind his back, smiled briefly as they all tensed, "can I ask the purpose of surrounding me?"

"To keep you from going anywhere," Finn answered.

He smirked, "Still going to try to '_fix me_?'"

"How does that work anyway Finn?" Piper asked, scowling.

"Yeah, I've never heard of anyone becoming an _un-_vampire before," Starling chimed in.

Finn opened his mouth to respond, but Aerrow beat him to it.

"You're stalling," he said simply, darkly. It wasn't a question.

Piper nodded and Aerrow quirked an eyebrow, shrugged and decided to play along.

"Well in that case, I suppose it's safe to ask a few questions. So, why did they send the three humans to surround the vampire? Wouldn't it make more sense to send those who didn't appeal to him?"

He started inching toward Starling, mostly for effect, but also because he didn't really want to jump into the Wastelands today.

"Don't move," Finn commanded, moving the crossbow to aim at Aerrow's head.

"Or what?" the Sky Knight spat, his voice poisonous, all trace of his earlier humor extinguished.

Piper's and Starling's eyes widened at the sudden mood swing, Finn however was expecting it.

"Or I shoot," was his cool response, "You can move fast Aerrow, but not that fast."

Aerrow straightened up again, unaware that he'd slipped into a battle-ready stance, and showed his hands as he shrugged again.

"Okay, fair enough." his voice was light again. The two girls we having trouble keeping up with his mood, he knew, and he smirked at Piper.

Finn's eyebrows slipped lower into the glare, "I know we can still kill you the old fashioned way Aerrow, by making you bleed out, or stopping your heart."

Aerrow turned back to the sharpshooter, his interest piqued.

"You're not completely a vampire," the young man went on, "you haven't died yet. That's how we can make you a…um, '_ un_-vampire.' But that's only plan A. None of us will hesitate to use plan B and just kill you."

Aerrow's knowing smirk came back, "Then why did Piper flinch when you said 'kill'?"

"Aerrow, please," Piper begged, speaking over Finn's next comment, "I know you're still in there! There's still a part of you that isn't controlled by the darkness. Find it! Fight, Aerrow, please, this isn't you. I know you're still there."

He breathed in a quick little gasp, throwing a hand to his head as she talked, scrunching his eyes closed, shook his head back and forth.

"Piper?" his voice was shaky, not quite, but closer to his old voice than the new, darker one.

"Yes Aerrow, fight this, I know you can!"

He started chuckling at her words, before finally breaking out into full-blown, cruel laughter, "Hahaha, had you going there for a second didn't I?"

Piper's gasp was pained; her eyes stinging at the betrayal but Aerrow looked past her, at the orange glow brightening on the horizon.

"Well, I think it's time for me to go," he said, no remorse in his tone or in his expression as he turned his back on her.

"Not so fast Aerrow," Starling spat, "We didn't do this just for fun."

"Yes I'm sure you had a reason. Care to tell me what it is?"

"To prevent you going anywhere," the older Sky Knight teased.

"That's infuriating, these half-answers. You're stalling," he accused. "Waiting for the cavalry? What's taking them so long?"

Piper glanced down into the rearview mirrors mounted on her scooter. As Aerrow's eyes followed hers he noticed how light it was; he started backing toward the cliff edge, the others slipping off their rides, following him.

"The cavalry is the sun?" he sounded disgusted, "Where are your other Storm Hawks, Piper?"

She sounded hurt as she answered, "They're waiting for us to bring you."

Seeing him glance behind her, Piper took it as her opportunity to sneer at him, "Not much longer until the sun comes up; you're running out of options, Aerrow."

He twitched, as if he was going to look over the edge of the Terra and then decided not to take his eyes off their weapons. He glared at each of them in turn, before he crouched and launched himself backwards into empty space as the sun broke the horizon.

He fell through empty air for only a few moments before he heard the _Condor_'s horn blare and saw it rise out of the clouds. An angry growl forced its way past his teeth as he realized his mistake; a trap had been set, he had walked right into it. Or rather, he thought, _jumped_ into it. Flipping around with only seconds to spare, he smacked down on his hands and one knee on the ship's landing strip, the force of its ascent keeping him rooted to the spot. As the ship rose above the Terra he caught one glimpse of Piper's tear-streaked face before he was hit with the full, scorching heat of the sun.

Unable to help himself, he screamed, arching his back and throwing his hands out as his muscles involuntarily tensed. It only hurt more with his arms exposed! He bent in on himself; he could not escape the heat, the terrible, burning fire of the sun! It hurt so much more than last time!

Another scream of agony tore itself loose before the light vanished. Breathing heavily, it took a moment to think past the pain clouding his thoughts and see that, though the burns already there hurt just as much as they had only moments ago, no new ones were appearing. Safe.

Curled into a tiny ball as he was, Aerrow simply flopped over onto his side, crying out as his tortured limbs hit the metal; he slowly, painfully, turned his head to see Junko standing between him and the sun. Safe in the shadow of the Wallop, Aerrow lowered his head onto the cool metal of the strip, allowing himself to uncurl slightly, and waited for the darkness to swirl in and release him for the moment from the pain. Although he felt the blackness of unconsciousness on the edge of his thoughts, it did not take him and he lay still, curled in agony in the shadow.

Presently, he heard three clanks and opened his eyes just enough to see Finn, Piper, and Starling dismount their sky rides and start toward him.

"You should have come with us," he heard Finn say, his voice cold, detached.

"I'm sorry, Aerrow," Piper whispered, kneeling down in the sun next to him.

Starling remained silent and went to stand by his head, glaring down at him though her eyes were wet.

Aerrow simply struggled to keep breathing, to find one coherent thought through the fire in his mind. He heard a light padding of feet striking metal, and looked up just enough to see Radarr approaching, something small, square, and red clenched in his front paws.

Piper lifted her head and reached across Aerrow to take the packet from the furry blue creature. Everyone tensed at this but Aerrow made no move to grab her other than his fingers twitching briefly, sending flares of pain through his arm.

Carefully, Piper took the blood packet from Radarr, one of many they'd found in the Sky Knight's room, and ripped off the knob used to connect the tubes for transfusions. Then she slowly brought the packet closer to Aerrow's face, hand tensed to pull out at the first sign of movement. For a while neither moved, and then, just as slowly as Piper, Aerrow lifted his hands and grasped the packet; Piper dropped it like a hot potato and scooted back as she watched Aerrow drink. She marveled again at how much that tiny amount seemed to heal him: the burns were no more than faint red patches on his skin by the time the blood was drained.

"More," he rasped just loud enough for her to hear, letting the empty packet fall to the ground.

Piper shook her head even as Finn stepped forward.

"Stand up Aerrow."

The vampire stayed as he was, blinking blearily up at the sharpshooter. Finn sighed, and motioned to Junko. The Wallop stepped aside. Aerrow screamed again as the sun enveloped him and Junko hurriedly moved back to shadow him.

"Now," Finn ordered, "get up."

Aerrow obeyed, struggling to his feet on shaky legs, trying to stay inside the boundary of Junko's shadow as he swayed. Finn nodded and he and Junko walked forward, toward the hangar, Aerrow hobbling alongside the Wallop who half-raised his arm as if to steady the almost-vampire. Inside the safety of the hangar, Aerrow collapsed, only to be pulled to his feet by two sets of hands. One hand on each of his arms, the sharpshooter and mechanic half-carried their prisoner down the hallway.

"Let me go," Aerrow said weakly.

Finn just smiled, "Of course, but just as soon as you're no longer a vampire."

They continued in silence for a few more feet before Aerrow froze. Finn stopped too, restraining himself from pulling the vampire along, knowing instinctively that something was wrong. He sensed that this was something more than just an unwillingness to be taken captive.

Inside, Aerrow could feel it happening again and all his muscles tightened in anticipation of the coming pain. His heart throbbed once, twice, feeling like it was ten sizes too big for his chest, before it began sprinting along. He groaned and yanked his arms out of the other's hands, dropping down to his knees, arms wrapping around his torso. He gasped as the painful, one-at-a-time, ten-times-too-big-for-his-chest throbs came back, his vision flickering with every beat.

Junko and Finn watched the attack with matching expressions of horror, wishing, but not knowing how to help their friend. Then the moment passed, Aerrow got up, relieved that his heartbeats had resumed a softer, more regular rhythm albeit slower than it should have been, and that the world had stopped lurching with each pounding of his heart.

"Are you okay?" Junko asked concern for his friend written in his every movement.

Aerrow shot him a glare, seething. He felt stronger than he had before the attack, as if his overall stamina had increased, but he was still really weak. At least he could stand on his own now.

Finn glowered at him, and then looked up at Junko.

"There's not much time," he said, a sense of urgency in his voice.

Junko nodded and grabbed Aerrow, his massive hands wrapping around the other's torso, locking his arms to his sides.

"Hey!" He kicked out, squirming in the Wallop's grip, desperately trying to break free.

Finn moved down the hallway a few more steps and stood beside one of the doors, keeping it open as Junko followed and violently threw Aerrow in.

His head bashed against the far wall and he got up slowly, dazed. The Storm Hawks rushed in after him, quickly securing metal cuffs to each wrist and each ankle before stepping back out of harm's way.

Still hazy from the blow to his head, Aerrow lifted one arm and stared uncomprehending at the manacle. His eyes followed the chain backwards to the bolt in the wall and then it dawned on him.

"No!" He jumped to his feet, stepping forward, straining against the chains.

"Struggle all you like Aerrow, you're not getting out," Finn said matter-of-factly. He reached into his pocket and drew out a tiny mint box, holding it in front of his prisoner's face, just out of Aerrow's reach. He flipped the box open with his thumb, "Unless you take a couple of these."

Aerrow looked disdainfully at the red pills, and then jerked his head away. Finn shrugged, returning the box to his pocket.

"Whenever you're ready," he smirked, turning around and walking out with Junko, leaving Aerrow alone.

He slumped to the ground, glaring at the door. He'd reserve his strength and try to escape later. They were up right now and he couldn't do anything while the sun was out anyway.

* * *

><p><strong><em>Oooh, next chapter's my favourite :D<em>**

**_It's totally worth the wait it's going to be (just a few days 'cause after that I'm all caught up to where I've written).  
><em>**


	10. Chapter 10

**_Let me know what you think of thi__s because for me this is pure love (and I did not just say that...Die inner-fangirl, Die!)_**

* * *

><p>Night fell slowly on the <em>Condor<em>. He waited until dark, until the pacing feet left his hallway and shrugged off their weight in their own rooms. Aerrow waited until he could hear (when he listened hard) each of the Storm Hawks settle down and their breathing slow as they fell asleep. Then he stood. He got to his feet slowly, the chains slithering, clinking, after him. Trying not to make too much noise, he turned and examined the bolts on the wall. They had been welded, or perhaps the energy from Junko's Knucklebusters had just fused it. Either way, he had to try.

Flipping his bangs out of his eyes, Aerrow grasped the large metal loop in both hands, and gave an experimental tug. Bracing himself, he pulled with all his new-found strength to remove the bolt from the wall. It held fast.

Pausing to reevaluate, Aerrow grabbed a length of chain, wrapping the thick loops around his hands, and pulled hard. The metal groaned but held together. Frustration mounting at his inabilities, Aerrow grabbed in both hands one of the chains linked to his wrist and threw all his weight into pulling the single chain from the wall. He succeeded in doing nothing.

He screamed his frustration, whipping a length of the thick metal chains at the wall, sending terrifyingly loud echoes reverberating throughout the ship. His annoyance was temporarily alleviated however, when several panicked cries answered him. Five sets of feet followed, all running in his direction.

He chuckled to himself as they got closer, holding the smile on his face as the door slid open and the Storm Hawks peered nervously inside, their weapons drawn.

"Hello," he greeted cheerily, "Did I wake you guys up? Sorry 'bout that. Don't mind me; I'm just trying to escape."

He was met with one angry glare from Finn, and nervous stares from the others.

"Seriously, you guys can go back to bed. Nothing to fear from me, I promise. Well, maybe not you, Piper, but you know…"

Aerrow laughed as her eyes widened and her mouth puckered into a terrified 'O.'

"C'mon," Finn said, turning his back on his former Sky Knight, "he's bluffing, he can't get out. Just go back to sleep."

"D- Don't you th-think he should have a-a g-guard?" Stork stuttered, his whole body twitching as he looked from the smirking redhead to the resident vampire expert.

Finn shook his head, forcing an encouraging smile onto lips that would rather frown, "You're fine, Stork. He wouldn't go after you anyway."

The blonde ushered everyone down the hall, turning to leave Aerrow with one last glare before heading back to his own bed.

The door locked with an echo of finality, leaving the almost-vampire in complete solitude once more. He flopped to the ground, leaning his back against the wall before hugging his legs to his chest and resting his head on his knees. Then he closed his eyes, simply resting, unable to sleep, waiting for the ship to resettle.

After a long while, he wasn't exactly sure how long, he finally decided that the Storm Hawks were asleep, and climbed to his feet. Aerrow stared at the welded links before grasping the chains and resuming trying to pull them from the wall. After several more unsuccessful attempts Aerrow dropped his head in exasperation, and then raised his eyes into a menacing glare at the stubborn metal. He wound a loop of the thick chain around each of his hands and pulled back as he walked forward, eventually stepping up the wall until his feet were level with the connecting bolts. Then he straightened his legs, pulling straight out from the wall with all his might.

Slowly, and with a loud, groaning crack, the brackets slid out from of the metal plating of the wall. With a snap of metal, Aerrow was thrown backwards, head connecting painfully with the floor, leaving his head fuzzy, before the rest of him slumped to the ground.

Only two pairs of feet came running this time. Aerrow knew one of them was not Stork. The paranoid Merb would be curled into a ball in the corner of his locked room, wearing 'defensive' gear and wielding some kind of Vampire Repellent. And he was reasonably sure neither of the two was Junko. It took a lot to wake a sleeping Wallop, especially a second time in one night. Neither of the footfalls was light enough to be Radarr, either.

Aerrow twisted onto his knees, bundling a length of free chain by his side and gripping it near the end as he waited.

When the door slid up and Finn walked in first, Aerrow whipped the chain at him, completely unfazed that this boy was one of his best friends. Finn reacted quickly, dodging to the side so the end of the bolt grazed his cheek, leaving a hair's width cut along the side of his face.

As the sharpshooter put his fingers to his face to check the damage, Aerrow looked over at Piper. His eyes flashed in the light of the hallway as he winked at her, and the girl seemed to freeze.

Finn pulled his hand away, staring with wide eyes at the blood on his fingertips until Piper suddenly grabbed him, forcing him back against the wall. She leaned into him, holding his head still with her hands, locking his eyes with her unblinking ones.

Aerrow stared hard at the two, eyes narrowed.

Confusion was written all over Finn's face as he stared down at the shorter girl, "Piper, what's-?"

The girl pressed her lips to his, seemingly paralyzing him. After a moment, Finn seemed to relax, though what Aerrow could see of his face still looked somewhat confused. Piper slowly removed her hands from the blonde's head, reaching slowly down to pluck a ring of keys from his pocket. As the keys were in the process of changing possession, Finn's hand shot out, wrapping around Piper's wrist. The ring fell the floor and skittered a short distance away.

Finn moved his grip to Piper's upper arms, tilting her body into the light from the hallway. Her pupils were non-responsive.

Aerrow's eyes followed the path of the keys as they landed and bounced toward him. He was up immediately, crawling across the cold floor on his knees, straining against the bonds that still held his ankles. He reached, stretching out on his stomach as far as he could, fingertips grasping at air mere inches from the keys. He put his whole concentration into stretching just a _bit_ farther…

Piper blinked and staggered, barely managing to keep herself upright. She looked confusedly into Finn's face, too close to hers, and then around the room, as if trying to remember where she was.

"What…happened?"

Finn was cut off by a shriek of frustration, and he looked down to see Aerrow's predicament.

He smirked, placing a foot over the ring of keys, "Having trouble?"

If looks could kill, Finn would be a pile of ashes. He'd never seen Aerrow look that angry before. The sharpshooter slid his foot back, dragging the keys with him, before stooping to pick them up.

"So close Aerrow, and yet so far," he taunted.

Aerrow hissed at him, feral, a growl in the back of his throat. Finn kept his smile in place as Aerrow glared, and turned to look at Piper, asking her to go get Junko for him.

"What's your plan, Finn?" Aerrow demanded once Piper had gone, sliding back onto his knees.

"I'm gonna get you back Aerrow, the real you. Whether you want me to or not."

Aerrow scoffed, a small grin on his face, "What, and then we can just forget that any of this ever happened? Go back to being a great squadron and a perfect family? You think I'll forget that you tortured me? You think that you'll forget everything that _I've_ done? This will never leave us, Finn, none of us. The Cyclonians will be after me, vampire or not, the other Sky Knights will never trust me. Piper won't either. Not until she doesn't care, not until she sees that everything I've done has been in her best interest."

"_What?_ In her best interest! Aerrow, you tried to kill her! You sat there and calmly planned to murder Stork, Junko, and Radarr, among others! I knew that vampire venom caused slight insanity but this is ridiculous! You're insane, not oblivious, how can you not see-"

Aerrow raised an eyebrow at the sharpshooter, "About that venom thing…how do you know I won't be like this when you 'fix me,' just minus the bloodlust? Then you'll have to kill me knowing full well that I am completely human."

The door slid up, interrupting Finn's angry denial, and Piper walked in with a yawning Junko.

Aerrow slid back against the wall, drawing his legs up, and folding his arms over his knees. He looked expectantly between the Wallop and the human, his previous grin just a ghostly remnant on his lips. He absently put a hand to his chest, rubbing his fingers across the area around his heart. Finn's eyes widened slightly as he noticed this, and he turned to the giant ballistics expert.

"Junko, I know this is a lot to ask but we don't have time, I need you to hold Aerrow down for me. And, Piper, I need you to hold his head still."

Aerrow skittered backwards with a gasp, shaking his head frantically as Junko stepped toward him, "You wouldn't!"

"What are you going to do?" the girl asked quietly, glancing at Finn.

He shook his head slightly, watching Aerrow as he scooted sideways along the wall, straining against the bonds still clamped around his legs. Junko was closing in, Aerrow backed into the corner. Suddenly the vampire lunged, throwing himself out from the wall toward the Wallop, fingers curled into claws. Junko flinched backwards as Aerrow scrabbled desperately at his face, digging pale fingers into the flesh of the other's prominent ear. Junko locked his hands around Aerrow's upper arms as the boy snapped lethal incisors at his neck, and yanked him off, ignoring the stinging pain in his ear when Aerrow refused to let go. Junko tackled his former Sky Knight to the ground, sitting heavily on his stomach, holding his arms pinned down. Aerrow shrieked in denial, trying to squirm out of the other's iron grip, legs flailing dangerously as he attempted to unbalance the Wallop.

Piper crept forward cautiously, kneeling at Aerrow's head. Her fingers hesitated as he whipped his head side to side. She didn't want to be bitten, the only reason they could hold him down like this was because he was so weak…and she didn't want to hurt him.

Slowly, Piper reached her hands out, running her fingers into the fiery hair atop his head. Aerrow froze, and Piper took this opportunity to trail her hands down his face, holding him still while she inched forward and slid her folded legs around his head, one knee on either ear, locking him in place, her hands still on his cheeks.

He scowled up at her, but Piper could see the confusion and hurt in his face. 'Sorry,' she mouthed at him as Finn crouched beside her.

The blonde held two red pills in one hand, steadying himself with the other.

"We gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?" the sharpshooter asked, raising a knowing eyebrow at the pinned Sky Knight.

Aerrow locked his teeth together, glaring fiercely at the other boy.

"The hard way then." For a moment, Finn's cold expression broke, and Aerrow could see just how much this was hurting him, but the blonde recovered fast. Scowling, Finn took a deep breath, and clapped a hand over Aerrow's mouth, pinching his nose closed with the hand that held the pills.

Aerrow's eyes widened in disbelief and he jerked, struggling harder to free himself, to tear his head free.

"I thought you said that could still kill him!" Piper shouted angrily, grabbing Finn's wrists.

"Don't!" Finn shouted back, "I'm not going to kill him! If he won't take the pills willingly, I need to force him!"

"Not like this!" Piper cried, gesturing to Aerrow's steadily reddening face.

"Do you want Aerrow back or not?" Finn shot testily.

That was a low blow. Piper's eyes filled. Several tears rolled down her cheeks, and splashed onto Aerrow forehead. He flinched.

Finn looked down and, noticing how purple the Sky Knight was, withdrew his hands.

Aerrow gasped in a deep breath, his colour returning as his body absorbed the oxygen. Finn shoved the two pills between Aerrow's teeth and quickly clamped his hands over the boy's mouth, holding his nose again. Aerrow lurched, scrunching his eyes closed. His lungs were burning from lack of oxygen, his heart was throbbing painfully, his fingers and toes were going numb, and Piper's tears were dripping into his eyes. His burned skin ached where anything touched it, which happened to be most of him, but he didn't want to do this.

"Swallow, Aerrow," Finn commanded.

"Please, you're hurting him!" Piper sobbed, but she didn't release Aerrow's head were she still held it.

"You won't let yourself die, Aerrow, c'mon." Finn urged.

Aerrow's eyes wheeled frantically, darkness creeping in at the edges of his vision.

He could feel himself slipping, didn't want to slip. Everything was going foggy, waves of fog over his brain. What was he supposed to be doing again?  
>"Swallow the pills, Aerrow."<p>

But taking those pills would kill him.

Not taking them would kill him faster though.

Painfully, Aerrow dry swallowed. He choked, and the hands were hastily removed from his face. Hacking, Aerrow pulled in as much oxygen as he could, all the way down to his toes. He blinked the darkness from his eyes, as the fog in his brain slipped away.

Aerrow felt his head being released, felt the crushing pressure leave his stomach as Piper and Junko stood up. He pulled himself upright on quivering arms, still coughing, and put his head between his knees.

He was vaguely aware of the others standing around him, and he looked up, blinking blearily around at their hazy, distorted shapes.

"Aerrow?" the smallest, bluer one asked, her voice rather far away.

"Piper?" And then darkness pulled him under.

* * *

><p><em><strong>Yes? No? YesYesYes! XD Pure love I tells ya.<strong>_


	11. Chapter 11

It was bright when he woke up. Bright and warm and empty.

Aerrow blinked slowly, green eyes taking too long to adjust to the beam of golden sunlight shining just at the edge of his bed.

Bed? But he'd been chained in a spare room hadn't he? How did he get here?

Aerrow looked around, realized he was in Starling's mostly empty spare room. All it really had was the bed and a dresser, the second now glowing brightly in the morning sunlight.

Aerrow sat up slowly, his whole body aching, taking care to keep in the little patch of darkness around the bed. Why was he hurting?

Oh…now he remembered. Finn had pinned him down and forced him to take those nasty red pills of his own blood. Did that mean he-?

Aerrow stretched out one hand, swiping it into the beam of sun. Pain!

Hissing between his teeth, Aerrow snatched back his hand, curling it painfully to his chest. No, it did not mean he was human.

Then why did he feel so different? Lighter?

There was a metal bottle at the end of his bed and Aerrow picked it up tentatively. He popped the cap, sniffing the contents warily. Rust and life filled his senses. Aerrow took a swig of the blood, swallowing only a little before he spat the rest out. He tipped the bottle upside down, dumping the rest all over the sunlit, metal-tiled floor. It was his own blood.

His hand was healing slowly. Too slowly.

Footsteps approached his door. Aerrow tensed, listening. He slipped off the far end of the bed, around the patch of sunlight, leaning up against the wall beside the door, waiting. The steps paused outside; he could hear soft breathing, a too-fast heartbeat. The door slid up, someone entered.

Aerrow's hand shot out, strong fingers wrapping around a thin neck, far too dark against his ghostly pale fingers. The girl choked, grabbed at his arm, trying to pull it away.

"Piper?" Aerrow's brows pulled together and he released the girl. He stepped back as she doubled over, gasping, rubbing her neck.

"What was that for?" she demanded, when she had gotten her breath back.

"Um…I'm not sure. I thought you might be-"

"Coming to hurt you?" she interjected.

"Finn." Aerrow finished.

Piper's angry expression seemed to collapse, and Aerrow saw the pain in her eyes as they searched his. She couldn't hold his gaze, averted her eyes.

"How are you feeling, Aerrow?" Piper asked emotionlessly, folding her arms over her chest as she stepped away from him. The movement drew his eyes to the large, yellow crystal tightly clenched in her fist.

"Not sure," Aerrow said with a shrug, trying to sound nonchalant. He turned and hopped onto the spare bed, sitting down and crossing his legs in one fluid motion. He quirked an eyebrow at the girl, "Hungry though."

Piper's eyes widened as she noticed the dark red puddle on the floor, the occasional drop of blood still leaking from the bottle to join the rest. She looked fearfully up at the Sky Knight but he made no move toward her, though he smirked at her expression. He lifted one hand and motioned with his finger for her to come closer.

Piper gasped, staggering back a step toward the door.

"Finn said…" Piper paused to catch her breath as Aerrow's expression darkened, "Finn said it would take a certain amount of your own blood to get you completely normal…"

"_Finn said, Finn said_," Aerrow mimicked, "You really trust him that much? The guy's with you for how many years and doesn't tell you he was raised as a vampire hunter? How many other secrets is he hiding, do you think? The guy tortured me, Piper. _Without so much as flinching_! And you trust that?"

"Aerrow that's not fair! He was only doing what he felt he had to!"

"He had to? _Had to? _What was so hard about letting me go?" Aerrow was on his feet before he realized he'd moved. "_Huh?_ I don't want to be one of your silly little Storm Hawks, Piper! I_ like _being like this!"

"Aerrow please," tears flowed freely from Piper's eyes, "Please stop. You don't mean it..."

"Oh, but I do," he was suddenly in her face. He cupped her chin in his hand, forced her to look at him. "It's invigorating, Piper, this power, this freedom." He was whispering now, "You can feel it too. I can take you to him. To my father, and he can change you, and we can be together. Free as birds, no ties to anyone or anything, taking whatever we want whenever we want it…Think about it, Piper."

He leaned his face close to hers, their lips nearly brushing, "Think about it. I know you want to. I can sense it in you."

"No!" She shoved against him and Aerrow stumbled backwards, startled. Piper activated the Solaris crystal, pointing it at her once Sky Knight. Aerrow stepped away from it, glaring murderously.

Piper backed into the doorway, felt the cool metal slide up. She gestured with her free hand to the puddle of blood on the floor by the bed, "You'll get a choice next time: pills or liquid. There's some donated stuff under the bed over there but it's not much, you get more if you take the pills. If you don't…Finn's going to take drastic measures."

She ducked out of the room. Aerrow heard the door lock, and familiar sound of a crystal activating. A yellow film developed on all the walls of the room. Aerrow touched a finger to it, already knowing what it would be.

There was the faintest hiss of sizzling flesh in the oppressing silence of the room, as the Solaris power burned. Aerrow removed his finger, shaking it absently as he tried to numb the pain, and hissed through his teeth.

Piper would see his side. Eventually.

He reached under the bed, fingers searching until they bumped into a second metal bottle. He unscrewed the cap, sniffed at it cautiously, dipped a finger in and brought a drop of blood to his lips. It tasted fine, definitely not his.

Aerrow gulped down half the bottle, stopping when he started to feel nauseous. Maybe they _had_ put something in it, or perhaps this sick feeling was simply his body resisting so much blood after his semi-'healing.'

He set the bottle next to him, lay back on the bed, and contented himself to listen. He tried to place what the others were doing by sound alone, and didn't realize when he almost dozed off.

The sound of the door sliding up brought him back to full awareness. Aerrow stayed as he was, concentrating on placing the footsteps. Actually, there was really no one else it could be. He lunged out of the bed, crossing the room in one bound, and caught Finn by the neck, smashed him into the wall. Finn kicked out, his foot connecting with Aerrow's stomach. The redhead dropped him, stumbling backwards. Before he could attack again, Finn drew out another Solaris crystal, shielding himself in a bubble of sunlight.

The boys glared at one another, seething.

"Finn," Aerrow spat his name like it was too disgusting a word to have pass over his lips.

"Aerrow," Finn replied coldly.

"Piper already explained this whole 'fixing' thing to me, there's no reason for you to be here. Unless of course, you're bored and feel like torturing me again?"

Finn clenched his fists, "I didn't want to do any of that Aerrow. You know I didn't…"

Aerrow scoffed, rolled his eyes.

"I didn't!" Finn insisted, "I'm not sadistic, Aerrow! You being a vampire is wrong! Firstly, you're not like this, you aren't this kind of person! And second of all, vampirism nearly wiped out humanity hundreds of years ago! How do you think Atmos would feel if _you_ were the one to reinitiate that! You're the one everyone is counting on to win the battle against Cyclonia. I never meant to hurt you; I just wanted to help you."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Finn." Aerrow mocked.

"Why are you being so difficult?"

"Maybe it's because I like being this way! Maybe because I'm tired of being held back by morals and friendships, of following to dusty old men and saving people I don't know! Did that ever cross your puny little mind?"

Something about the way he said it, some tiny little spasm of emotion that crossed his face while he was talking let Finn see something he probably wasn't supposed to.

"Aerrow?"

Angry green eyes flicked up to meet his.

"You're not…mad…are you." It wasn't a question. "You're just scared."

Aerrow's eyes widened fractionally, his mouth opening and closing as he searched for words.

"What would give you that idea?" he growled defensively.

"We've been friends for years, dude. I know you." Finn smiled reassuringly.

Aerrow just glared.

"Look, we're not doing this to hurt you. I promise. We just want you back to normal, back to the way you were before. I want to forget that any of this ever happened. I kind of know how you're thinking of this…the vampire venom is making you think that being a vampire is _you_, that changing that would kill you."

Aerrow's eyebrows raised in surprise.

"But it won't. It's going to change you, yes, but you'll still be yourself, and alive."

Finn took the hatefully familiar mint box out of his pocket, shook two red pills into his hand. The sharpshooter deactivated the Solaris crystal and held the capsules out to Aerrow.

He stared them for a few moments, frowning, and then looked up at the blonde. His eyes searched the other's face, found no trace of malice. Hesitantly, Aerrow reached up and took the pills in his own hand. He stared at them blankly, unsure.

"I'll just…" Finn slipped out the door, glancing back hopefully before the thick metal panel slid into place.

Aerrow flopped down on the bed again, leaning back against the wall when Finn failed to put up the Solaris net around the room.

He was conflicted, staring at the tiny red capsules in his hand. Conflicted because part of him knew Finn was telling the truth, and because an equally large part didn't trust him as far as he could throw him, vampire super-strength or not.

But he didn't want Piper to hate him, and he didn't want to be hunted by both sides of the Atmos. He didn't want to die, but he didn't to be alone, ruled by the sun forever.

Aerrow glared at the capsules and then, grimacing, popped the pills in his mouth. He dry swallowed, resisting the instinctive urge to hack them back up. Eyes watering slightly, he straightened up when he heard footsteps approaching in the hallway, but they didn't stop.

Suddenly, like being hit with a blast of crystal energy, Aerrow felt dizzy. Darkness swirled in his mind, and he collapsed for the second time that day.

* * *

><p><strong><em>I know basically what's gonna happen next, it's kinda blurryvague/memory, but WRITER"S BLOCK! It tasks me._**..


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